While South Korean rapper Psy's "Gangnam Style" has taken the world by storm, it has largely fallen flat in Japan -- an anomaly viewed with grave suspicion by some in the singer's home country.

Korean K-pop music is huge in Japan, but for one reason or another Japanese music fans have remained relatively immune to the seductive powers of Psy and his horse-riding dance.

In South Korea there has been speculation that a bitter territorial dispute over contested islands may have caused Japanese fans to shun the song.

To make matters worse, various Japanese music blogs have suggested that the video's success on YouTube -- 530 million views and counting -- was down to South Koreans using automated viewing programmes known as "bots".

Some even started playfully referring to the song as "F5 Style" -- a reference to the keyboard key used to refresh the window of an internet browser.

On Monday the Korean Wave Research Institute (KWRI) -- a non-profit body established in 2010 to "aggressively" promote Korean popular culture around the globe -- hit back.

Denouncing the "conspiracy theories" of YouTube chart manipulation, KWRI president Han Koo-Hyun said the "outrageous" Japanese argument was "tantamount to doubting a world record in an Olympics marathon".

Scepticism about the song's worldwide popularity on YouTube "should be viewed as a primary school kid's jealousy and envy", Han said in a press release.

The Korean wave is very, very real in the rest of Asia... but back in the west no one cares.

This might choke up a lot of Dave's posters, but in other parts of Asia Koreans are really regarded as "The New Cool".

A lot of Asian women prefer Korean men over white guys now...

I agree with this. The Korean Wave or whatever it is called is big in Asia when it comes to music, TV shows, Dramas and films. Back here in Canada it is not on the radar much but you do hear about it in certain places. For example, the K-community centre where my kids take Korean classes on Saturdays offers K-language classes for adult learners too...they typically get roughly 60 students per semester, split between 3 levels (beginner, intermediate and some sort of informal advanced level). 90% of the students are taking the class because they like K-dramas, K-music. A high number of these students are younger asians (Vietnamese, Cambodians, Thais...) who watch K-dramas like there is not tomorrow and want to learn Korean because of it. How far they take these studies is hard to say however.

As for the KWRI that is just damn silly and smells a whole lot like some marketing ploy.

The Japanese (unlike so many others) are smart enough to realize the stupidity that it is.

Oh really? No ONE EVER can out-stupid this video. It remains to this day the weirdest, most stupid music video I have ever seen in my 31 years on this crazy rock of ours:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzC4hFK5P3g

It's a mediocre song with a mildly funny accompanying video. Of course the Japanese aren't especially impressed by it. No one should be especially impressed by it. It's the kind of thing you watch once or twice, get a bit of a laugh, then move on.

I don't think stripping off for a matchmaking agency for some rural ajosshi behind a screen, before being whisked away to a life of indentured slavery to a mother -in-law quite matches the glamourous dreams depicted in flashy tv dramas.

It's because Psy is popular in the west for the insanity value alone. Korea has yet to out-insane Japan.

This. The Japanese aren't as interested as the Western world because, quite frankly, it's been done.

Without being able to understand the Korean lyrics and thus the underlying social commentary, Gangnam Style is no different from the higher budget gag shows that proliferate in Japan. Even some serious music videos are done with a healthy dose of not-taking-myself-seriously-ness. And if you have ever watched a Japanese comedic drama, they ooze cheesy facetiousness in copious amounts.

The Japanese (unlike so many others) are smart enough to realize the stupidity that it is.

Oh really? No ONE EVER can out-stupid this video. It remains to this day the weirdest, most stupid music video I have ever seen in my 31 years on this crazy rock of ours:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzC4hFK5P3g

Yeah, but that's crazy for the sake of being crazy, she's a complete fabrication, a sugar rush, and embraces it, whereas Psy wants to be a serious artist as well as a comedian. Gangnam Style is a flash in the pan at best, people will remember it in a year and go "Oh yeah, that weird song with the funny video" but no one will actually want to hear it anymore. Gangnam Style is more popular outside of Korea because of how dumb it is, than it is in Korea itself. People that like Gangnam Style also probably watch Dancing With the Stars.